Pala Giani Asti was a party this morning as over 200 children from 7 area schools gathered for Special Olympics Young Athletes. Young Athletes is an early childhood play program for children with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities, ages 2 to 7 years old. Young Athletes introduces basic sport skills, like running, kicking and throwing.
Young Athletes offers families, teachers, caregivers and people from the community the chance to share the joy of sports with all children, while also learning the importance of inclusion.
There was no shortage of joy as the Young Athletes made their grand entrance, parading around the arena with their classes and participating in a flash mob dance performance before moving through 10+ interactive sports stations.
Among the Young Athletes volunteers were Sargent Shriver Global Messengers, such as Gilmour Bourg. When asked about his experience at Young Athletes, Gilmour shared,
“We are seeing true inclusion and inclusion needs to start at a young age. If it is started at a school, it will help so, so many children play together and have fun. At the end of the day these are all children—the most important thing is they have fun. So, when you have sports and fun, it brings inclusion all together.”
Beyond Pala Giani Asti, the Young Athletes celebration continued, as 20 schools across Italy, with over 2,000 additional athletes participated virtually.
